UNPUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 06-7421

CLAUDE SLOAN,
Petitioner - Appellant,
versus
GENE JOHNSON, Director of VA. Prisons,
Respondent - Appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western
District of Virginia, at Roanoke.
Jackson L. Kiser, Senior
District Judge. (7:06-cv-00385-jlk-mf)

Submitted:

February 5, 2007

Decided:

February 13, 2007

Before NIEMEYER and WILLIAMS, Circuit Judges, and HAMILTON, Senior

Circuit Judge.

Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Claude Sloan, Appellant Pro Se.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.

PER CURIAM:
Claude Sloan seeks to appeal the district courts order
denying relief on his 28 U.S.C. 2254 (2000) petition.

The order

is not appealable unless a circuit justice or judge issues a

certificate of appealability.

28 U.S.C. 2253(c)(1) (2000).

certificate of appealability will not issue absent a substantial

showing of the denial of a constitutional right.

2253(c)(2)

demonstrating

(2000).
that

prisoner

reasonable

satisfies

jurists

would

this

28 U.S.C.
standard

find

that

by
any

assessment of the constitutional claims by the district court is

debatable or wrong and that any dispositive procedural ruling by
the district court is likewise debatable.

Miller-El v. Cockrell,

537 U.S. 322, 336-38 (2003); Slack v. McDaniel, 529 U.S. 473, 484
(2000); Rose v. Lee, 252 F.3d 676, 683-84 (4th Cir. 2001).

We have

independently reviewed the record and conclude that Sloan has not
made the requisite showing.

Accordingly, we deny a certificate of

appealability and dismiss the appeal.

We dispense with oral

argument because the facts and legal contentions are adequately

presented in the materials before the court and argument would not
aid the decisional process.
DISMISSED

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